Photo Gallery: Caves

Glacier Caving

Photograph by Carsten Peter

Spelunkers rappel 300 feet (90 meters) into the Greenland ice sheet. Glacier caves such as these form when seasonal meltwater or geothermal vents cut fissures and channels through an ice sheet. Because they are made of ice, glacier caves can be quite unstable and present unique challenges to spelunkers.

Lava Tube Cave

Photograph by Tim Laman

Lava-tube caves, like this one in California's Lava Beds National Monument, are found throughout the world. These unique underground structures form during long-lasting lava flows. As lava moves through a channel, overflows build natural levees along the sides, which can eventually connect and harden, forming a canopy. Just as a winter stream continues to flow beneath its ice cap, lava continues to move under this roof. When flow from the source stops, the remaining lava moves through to the end, leaving a hollow tube, often large enough to walk through.

Patagonian Cave

Photograph by Carsten Peter

The artistry of water and time created the entrance to this limestone cave in Patagonia, Chile. Limestone is a soluble rock, and over hundreds of thousands of years, the slow movement of water can work like a chisel. Geologists call these structures solutional caves.

Greenland Glacier Cave

Photograph by Carsten Peter

A spelunker in a glacier cave in Greenland gazes upon colors and shapes that look more like a swirling galaxy than a cave formation. The otherworldly contours of this ice chamber were formed by the heat of a geothermal spring.

Karst Cave, China

Photograph by Raymond Gehman

Looking like the set of a science fiction movie, China's Reed Flute Cave is bathed in purple-blue light. Created by an underground river more than a half million years ago, this highly accessible karst formation is one of the region's most popular tourist attractions. But during World War II the cave served a different purpose—it doubled as an air raid shelter.

Underwater Stalagmites

Photograph by Michael Nichols

Crystal clear water surrounds stalagmites in Lechuguilla Cave, part of Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico. This once nondescript cave was launched into international stardom in 1986 when cavers broke through a closed passage and discovered numerous walkable tunnels. Since then, more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) of tunnel have been mapped, making it the third longest cave in the United States and the fifth longest in the world.

Lechuguilla Cave

Photograph by Michael Nichols

A caver is dwarfed by calcite columns that stretch some 50 feet (15 meters) to the top of Tower Place in Lechuguilla Cave. Located in Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico, this famous cave attracts spelunkers from all over the world.

Ripples of Calcite

Photograph by Michael Nichols

These rare calcite deposits, which look a bit like shredded wheat, were found on walls deep within Lechuguilla Cave in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico. Scientists think the rippled formations, known as folia, formed as water levels repeatedly rose and fell, leaving calcite deposits behind.

Cave Pearls

Photograph by Stephen Alvarez

Mineral deposits in caves can create amazing shapes, such as these chocolaty-looking cave pearls. These unique spherical formations are created in cave pools when layers of calcite are slowly deposited around a grain of sand or dirt.

Cave Diving

Photograph by Wes C. Skiles

Cave divers explore a flooded chamber of Florida's Diepolder Cave, 250 feet (76 meters) below the Earth's surface. Named after the man who originally owned the land, Diepolder Cave is located on Sand Hill Boy Scout Reservation near Brooksville, Florida.